The Inevitable part 3
by Danni
Summary: part 3 of The Inevitable...


**The Inevitable  
Part 3**  


  
Dressed in lab coats and masks, Liz and Maria watched the room Isabel and Michael were inside from the window across the hall. "How are we supposed to get in there?" Maria whispered. Liz shrugged. "I don't know."  
  
Kyle and Alex waited, hiding behind a desk, for a pair of scientists to pass by. "Number 9661 has arrived," one of them said.  
  
"Sheriff Valenti," the second said. "Let's go."  
  
"My dad," said Kyle, and began sneaking out of their hiding place behind the desk.  
  
"Kyle!" Alex said in a whisper. "Get back here." Kyle disappeared around the wall.  


***  


Come on, come on, Liz thought. Max, help me help you. Liz tried to connect with Max. All she saw were the backs of her eyelids.   
  
"Liz," Maria said. "You're human." Liz opened her eyes.  
  
"Oh yeah," she remembered. "Doesn't hurt to try."  


***  


Kyle watched as the scientists walked down an empty corridor and entered a room through double-doors. Kyle followed. As soon as he walked through one of the doors, alarms suddenly began to sound. Kyle froze. "Oh no."  
  
"What happened?" Liz panicked. Maria shrugged with equally wide eyes. They looked at the window. The scientists began rushing out of the room and down the hall. Guards and more scientists rushed by in the same direction.  
  
"Thank you," Maria smiled, her hands linked, looking upward. They waited for the coast to clear. Suddenly they heard a noise from behind. They spun around, hearts racing.   
  
"Liz, Maria," a voice whispered in the shadows as the figure approached them. The person came into their view.  
  
"Alex," Maria sighed with relief.   
  
"Wait, where's Kyle?" Maria asked.  
  
"He heard some scientist guys talking about Valenti being here and he went after them," he replied.  
  
"I think the coast is clear," said Liz. "Let's go."  
  
Liz, Maria and Alex exited the room they were in, rushed across the hallway, and entered the room.   
  
"Michael," Maria cried, rushing over to him.  
  
Liz and Alex followed across the room and Alex went to Isabel's side. He looked down at her and his eyes went blank for a moment. He had never seen someone so still and pale before, outside of a funeral home.  
  
"Wait," Liz paused. "Where's Max?"  
  
"What?" asked Maria, not paying attention. She was holding Michael and rocking him back and forth as tears streamed down her face.  
  
"You two try to wake them. I'll go find Max," said Liz.  
  
"Liz," said Maria. "We can't split up again."  
  
"I have to find Max," said Liz. Maria knew she couldn't stop Liz from going to find Max.   
  
"Don't go too far, Liz," said Maria. "We have to get out of here soon."  
  
Liz nodded and exited the room. "Michael, honey, come on. Wake up," said Maria, shaking him. "Please, Michael. Wake up."  
  
Alex took off the straps that held Isabel to the table. "Isabel," he said in a soothing tone. He tried to open her eyelids a little. "Wake up, Isabel."  
  
Suddenly Maria squealed happily. "What!" Alex jumped and looked at her. Michael's eyes were opening and his arm was moving slightly. Maria kissed his forehead four times and squealed again.   
  
"Come on, Isabel," said Alex, shaking her.   
  
"Michael, sweetheart, can you hear me?" Maria said.   
  
"Muh…ria?" Michael managed to say in a weak tone.  
  
"Thank you," Maria said again, looking upward. "Michael, we're going to get you out of here. But first you have to try and get up." Maria began helping him sit up.   
  
Isabel's eyes finally fluttered and opened. She looked up at Alex and he gave a warm smile. "You're going to be all right, Isabel," he assured her.  
"Alex." she said in a weak whisper. "You… came."  


***  


Liz paused. She couldn't move. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was like the day she and Max had been in a car accident earlier that year. The way he looked, unconscious, head against the stirring wheel. What she saw now was worse. Much worse.   
  
Max was tightly strapped to a white stretcher and connected to what looked like an IV, but wasn't. Liz approached his side. She looked down at him in disbelief. Am I too late?  
  
Liz slowly placed her hand on the side. He was unusually still and cold. "Oh my God," she gasped, her eyes filled with tears. This was much, much worse. "I'm sorry," she cried. "I should have been faster. I'm too late. I'm sorry, Max."  
  
Then Liz heard a hopeful sound. She looked up and to her left. It was the beating of a heart monitor. "It's not too late," she said. Liz looked at Max again. One of her tears fell to his chest. Pull yourself together, Liz Parker, she told herself, wiping away the tears. "You're going to be fine, Max," she said. "I'm going to get you out of here."  
  
"Where is she?" Maria began to panic. She searched frantically around the room for something to keep Michael warm. He was still shivering uncontrollably.   
  
Alex had wrapped his jacket and arms around Isabel. She managed to stand but needed Alex's help. "This must be hell for you," he sympathized. Isabel nodded slightly, her eyes still closed. Alex could feel her trembling.  
  
Maria then heard footsteps coming down the hallway. "Someone's coming!" she said in a whisper.   
  
"Kill the lights," said Alex. Maria hit the row of light switches on the wall, grabbed Michael, and led him back to the steel table.  
  
"Lie down," she said. Too ill and disoriented to say anything, Michael lay on the steel table. Maria quickly pulled a sheet over him. Alex helped Isabel back onto her table and did the same. Maria and Alex ducked behind a steel cabinet near a corner of the room. The four could hear footsteps getting closer to the door. After a few more steps, and figure came to the window and someone peered into the room.  


***  


How the hell did I get myself into this mess? Kyle asked himself as he crept along a wall. No more adventures for Kyle Valenti. He reached a doorway and leaned out of it to look down the hall. It was empty. When Kyle motioned to walk out of the doorway, a hand covered by a rubber glove was placed over Kyle's mouth, then yanked him back. He let out what became only a mumble, as a needle was injected into his arm. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he was out.  
  
It's a dream, Max thought. This has to be another dream. His eyes were beginning to open. A voice was calling his name. It's a dream. Liz's voice was calling his name. Max's eye opened. "Max? Max!" Liz smiled at him. I have to be dreaming, Max thought, as his vision cleared and Liz came into view. "Max, can you hear me?"  
  
"Liz?" he said faintly.   
  
"I'm going to get you out of here, Max, OK?" she said as tears began to fill her eyes and fall down her cheeks again. Liz helped Max sit up on the stretcher. Max felt too weak to even keep his eyes open, but he managed, with Liz's help, to stand. He leaned onto the stretcher for balance and support.  
  
Liz could barely container herself. She wanted to hold Max and assure him that he would be all right. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him and how scared she had been. But there was no time for that. She decided that first she had to get him out of there, then tell him everything some other time.   
  
"Can you walk, Max?"   
  
Max nodded slightly, stood on his own, and took a step. He immediately wobbled over and leaned onto the stretcher again. "Guess not," said Liz. Liz then pulled off her lab coat and helped Max put it on. "How do you feel?" she asked, buttoning it for him.  
  
"Awful," he replied weakly.   
  
"Come on," she said, wrapped her arms around him and began helping him walk. How are we going to get out of here if they're so sick? Liz thought. This must be the way Max feels, like, 24/7.  
  
Approaching the door of the room, Liz said, "Don't worry about Isabel and Michael. They'll be fine."  
  
Suddenly the door burst open and Liz yelped loudly.   
  
"We found you," Maria sighed. She was helping Michael walk the same way Liz was helping Max. Alex followed, helping Isabel.  
  
"Seen Kyle yet?" Liz asked.  
  
"Kyle?" Michael said. Even though he had trouble walking, he could talk again.   
  
"Um…no, Liz," Maria said, then turned to Michael and looked him straight into the eyes. "We didn't plan on him showing up when we were on our way here. I can handle him. I promise." Maria knew how upset Michael would be with Kyle Valenti tagging along to find the aliens whom his father was after. Michael was too sick to fuss or try and think of what to do about that problem.  
  
"We almost got caught by a guard," said Alex. "Luckily, he didn't see us." Liz nodded toward the door. Liz tried to stay confident. She remembered how she had called Max controlling before. Now she understood why he had to be.  
  
The six started out of the room as quietly as possible. "After all this," Maria whispered, "I'm going to need some heavy-duty aromatherapy."  


***  


"We found him. The trespasser," Dr. Wolf said to Sheriff Valenti.  
  
"Good," he said. "Can I see them?"  
  
"They're in there," he pointed to a door. Valenti walked away from Dr. Wolf and entered the room behind the door. As soon as he walked in, he paused. "Kyle," he gasped. Kyle looked up at him with an irratated expression, holding his arm where he'd been given the tranquilizer.   
  
"Dad."  


***  


It was strange seeing Max that way. He had looked so helpless, defenseless, weak. His personal duty of being in control of everything had been lifted from his shoulders for a while and set onto Liz's. She and Maria sat in the front of the car while Max, Michael, Isabel and Alex were squeezed in the back. Isabel lay against Alex, asleep, while Max and Michael slept with their heads leaned against the top of the seat. Liz looked back at Alex. He was softly running his fingers through her hair and holding her close.  
  
"I don't think you should get too attached, Alex. She's bound to wake up," Liz joked.   
  
"Can't I enjoy the moment?" said Alex.  
  
Liz smiled as Alex went back to thinking about the Isabel in his arms. The rest of the world disappeared to him for a moment. Liz turned and looked back at Max. She wished she could do the same as Alex. With a small sigh, Liz turned around in her seat, looked out her window and up at the dessert sky. It was full of diamond-like stars. With a smile on her face, she thought, I wonder which one is his.  
  
10-8-00  
  
Max and Michael and Isabel are back. Though none of them will ever be safe, they're back. I wish there were something I could do to help them. Someone will always be after them. I could never imagine being in their position. Having no one to turn to. No one to help them.  
  
There was a tap on her window. Liz set her diary aside, stood from her chair, and went to it. On the other side was Max. Liz couldn't help but smile. She opened the window and climbed out onto the balcony. "Max, you should be at home, with your parents," said Liz. They had overwhelmed Max and Isabel with so many tight hugs and forehead kisses when they walked in that Liz had slipped out without anybody noticing. She didn't want to disturb the emotional family reunion.   
  
"You saved our lives, Liz," he said in a soft voice. Liz smiled.  
  
"It wasn't a big deal," she said modestly. Max placed his hands on the sides of her face the way he always did and they kissed. Liz didn't need a thank you from him. From the look in his eyes, she knew exactly how he felt. She didn't need him to put it into words. He had saved and changed her life in numerous ways before. _I don't need a thank you_, she said to herself, tangled in Max's warm embrace and passionate kiss, Liz thought, _this is just fine, Max._  
  
Two men in black suits and sunglasses sat in a car in front of the UFO Center. "Are they in your vicinity?" the voice from their earplugs announced.  
  
"Affirmative, sir," one of them said.  
  
"Destination?" Dr. Wolf asked through the microphone.  
  
"The Crashdown Café," the second man replied.   
  
"Wait it out, men," said Dr. Wolf. "We're watching close."  
  
"Copy, sir," the first said and started the car.   
  
Dr. Wolf gave a smile as he watched the three red, moving dots on the monitor. "We'll get them back," he said. "They don't have a prayer against us." Unaware their every move was being watched, Max, Michael and Isabel entered the Crashdown.  
  
  
Part 4 coming soon...


End file.
